A Bitter Road
by Luna Silvereyes
Summary: I don't often get to see the direct results of my clients' trials with Mushi. It's actually even rarer that I get to see the final results of their trials with their fellow man. As I watched the scene unfold before me, if occurred to me; If the Mushi could acknowledge OUR existence, they'd probably find our world more or less horrifying.


A/N: I'm not sure if this story is necessary, but I couldn't seem to stop thinking about it. I decided to give this episode of _Mushi-Shi_ some final closure. I feel this is the most appropriate thing that could happen regarding this story. Maybe I'll do other potential conclusions. I don't know. What will be will be.

Truthfully, I'd written this _ages_ ago and completely forgotten about it until now.

 _I could never predict where my travels would take me next. I went wherever the letters I received dictated me to go. On this particular journey, my wanderings took me back through a small river village I'd visited a little over two years ago. It didn't seem to have changed much. Ordinarily, I'd check up on my previous clients to ascertain their welfare. Today though, circumstances told me to stay hidden and to keep quiet._

 _I became an inadvertent witness to a rather unsavory event._

 _At first, I began to head toward that home, now turned into a modest tea shop. The boy living there with his mother often ferried people across the wide river, but I hadn't seen him that day when I crossed myself. His mother, Sayo, was a past client of mine, suffering from a Kagedama which had buried itself within her brain, eating away her memories. This was one of the few instances where the guilt at being helpless even gnawed at me, though I was usually accustomed to dealing with troublesome Mushi by this point. To watch a lively, spirited human slowly turn into a shell as their memories were eaten away was hard for anyone to watch. Yet her son, Kaji, watched it daily. On this day, I had decided to check up on her, see how she was doing._

 _At least, that was the plan. Until I arrived at the house._

I stood at the road leading to the little shop and paused as a man crossed my path. He tipped his hat toward me as he passed.

"Excuse me, young man."

"Go ahead." I told him. I waited until he'd gotten slightly ahead of me. I wasn't too fond of tailing people that closely. Once he'd nearly arrived at the shop, I started forward. I stopped, looking up. The man had approached the shop, taking his hat off and peering inside.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

This was a bit odd. I knew they should be there. The doors were wide open. I saw Sayo come to the door and the man beamed; "Sayo!" he cried, embracing her. I sighed, frowning as I realized what was going on. As I expected, she yanked away from him and stepped back. I could see her expression from where I stood and she didn't look happy. She looked scared, but quickly composed herself as she gently pulled away.

"If you don't mind, please, don't touch me, sir. Anyway, is there anything I can do for you?" she asked, smiling.

"Sayo!" the man cried again, "It…it's me!"

"Uhh…," she said, staring at him ponderously, "I'm sorry, sir, I don't believe we've met. Please, if there's nothing I can do for you, I really should get back to work."

I watched as she turned to go back inside. He reached out and grabbed her arm, "Sayo, don't you recognize me!? What on earth is wrong with you?"

"Let go of me, now!"

"Mom?"

I saw Kaji approach from the riverbank in front of their house. I knew instantly that I'd better not let myself be seen. This was the final gambit.

The man whirled and seemed to smile in relief, "Oh, Kaji. It's been so long! Look how tall you've gotten! You're past me, now!"

He made to approach him, but Kaji stepped back, his face darkened. Kaji looked from his mother back to the man and I saw his expression go blank, "Sir, I have to ask you to leave. If you aren't here to buy anything, then come back later."

Here, the man looked as if he'd been punched in the gut. He shook his head, "Kaji…what is going on!? Tell me!" he bellowed, whirling to Sayo, "What are you two up to?"

Sayo had already begun to back away in fear, staring at him in confusion and terror. Gauging the situation, I debated whether or not to get involved. This was beginning to turn ugly. I knew I was perfectly capable of overpowering him if he started to threaten them, but I really didn't want to be caught as a witness to this unfortunate result of Sayo's Mushi roommate.

The man whirled and grabbed Kaji's arm, "Son, please! Stop this right now! You know me! I'm your father!"

"My father is dead! He died years ago! Let go of me!" Kaji yelled, lashing his arm to try to free it.

Suddenly, to my amazement, Sayo lunged forward and tackled the man to the ground, breaking his grip on Kaji's arm. She grabbed her son and dragged him back away from him as he picked himself up. Her eyes were fierce; "Don't you DARE touch my son! Leave. Now." She snapped.

"But…Sayo…,"

"I. Said. LEAVE."

I watched with baited breath as the man seemed to weigh his options, carefully getting to his feet and watching both of them sadly. Then, slowly, he turned, making his way back down the path away from the tea shop. I watched as Sayo and Kaji retreated into the house, disappearing from sight. My attention fell on the defeated man approaching me and though my sympathies lay with the two in the house, I felt obligated to call out to him; "Hey, you all right?" I said, deadpan.

He looked up, eyes weary, "…Y-Yes, I am…I just…I don't…."

I fixed him with a hard stare, "You're his father, aren't you? The one who left."

His eyes went wide in alarm and he whirled to me, "H-How…how did you know about that? Who are you?"

I lit one of my cigars and sighed, "My name is Ginko. I'm a Mushi-Shi. That woman was one of my clients about two years ago. They told me about you."

His face darkened, "You…you're in on this ridiculous charade too?" he snapped, advancing on me. I held my hand up, "It's no charade, at least on her part. She honestly has no memories of you anymore. Due to her condition, most of her memories of your former life together are gone."

"Condition?" he said incredulously.

"Yes. She became the host for a Mushi that eats memories. It seems she managed to hold onto your memory for some time before I arrived. But she got it into her head to go looking for you…and apparently found you." I said, adding stress on the final words. I watched as his face lit with sudden fearful realization.

"But I…never saw…."

"It doesn't matter. She and Kaji clearly saw you. Her resulting depression at learning the truth caused her to weaken, allowing the Mushi to devour nearly all her remaining memories, including those of you. Tell me; from what Kaji told me, it didn't seem as though you'd ever return. So why are you here now trying to reclaim a life that doesn't belong to you anymore?"

He looked away from me, focusing on the river a short distance from us, "I…I'm alone now. My…well, there was an epidemic in the town and…most of the villagers died from it. Only a handful of us survived. I…didn't have a home anymore, so I…."

"You figured you'd come back here, even though years had passed since you abandoned this place." I finished the sentence for him, noting the sharp pain that swept across his face for a moment.

"Yes." He whispered.

"Awfully selfish of you, don't you think?"

"May…maybe so. But I didn't know what else to do. I thought that…she would accept me again."

I sighed, holding my cigar and looking up at the house, "You're too late. I'm afraid she'll never accept you again, not in her current state. And since there's no cure for what she has, there's no way to retrieve the memories she's lost. Besides, even if you somehow convinced her to take you back, there's still your son…." I said, letting that hang over his head.

"Kaji?"

"Your former wife was spared the agony of your betrayal thanks to the Kagedama embedded in her brain," I told him, "It ate away all the memories, good and bad alike. It also ate the memory of discovering you in that city. However Kaji was not so fortunate. He was forced to carry everything, remember all of it. I'm sorry to say, but I doubt you'll convince him."

"So…as far as he's concerned, I really am dead…."

"Afraid so."

He whirled to me, grabbing my coat, "Please! Please help me! Please tell them how sorry I am! They don't have to accept me back, but I just have to tell them somehow! They'll listen to you, please!"

"Come on, let go," I grumbled, pushing him away, "Look, even if I went up there, it's more than likely she's forgotten who I am as well. Kaji's the only one who would remember me. Besides, you're here for all the wrong reasons. Apologizing isn't one of them, I assume."

"But I—"

"Look, you only came here because your new family died. A family isn't just something that can be tossed away and then reclaimed like a piece of land," I snapped at him, "You hurt them deeply. I'd think you'd be foolish to expect them to want anything to do with you after this."

He finally let go of my coat, the notion sinking in as the weight of his actions began to take root. He sighed heavily, "Yeah…you're right. I made a mistake and let myself be led astray. I abandoned them. They…they have every right to…hate me."

"You're right about that. However…."

"Huh?"

"How old are you now?"

"Uh…I'm forty-three."

"The typical human lifespan is about fifty to seventy years long. That means you have roughly twenty-seven statistical years left to your life, give or take a few. Now, you aren't afflicted by any Mushi, but I think I still have a suggestion I can offer you."

"What?" he asked, his expression curious and wide eyed. I couldn't suppress a small grin, "My suggestion would be this; spend the next twenty-seven years doing whatever you can to support them. Watch from the shadows as their family grows. Keep an eye out for Kaji and stop in every day for tea at Sayo's shop. Make light conversation with her, but don't try to force her to remember you. You'll only stress her out. Same with Kaji. Become a good friend of the family and finally, learn to be content with that. I can't promise anything, but if you do all of that, it's possible you might someday win their forgiveness. Think you can handle that?"

He blinked in disbelief, staring up at me blankly. I lowered my case and pulled a sheet of paper and an ink pen from one of the drawers. I scribbled down the _Uromori's_ address on it and handed it to him, "Let me know how it goes. I'm interested to see what happens."

He took it gingerly, "But…but aren't you a Mushi-Shi?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, shouldering my case again, "Sayo's case is unusual so I intend to stop in from time to time to check in on her. If you ever see me, stop and chat. See ya."

With that, I left him sitting in the road, staring away from me.

 _To this day, I'm not entirely sure how successful he was. I visited that house twice more to check on Kaji's mother and each time, she appeared about the same. The first time, there was no sign of him anywhere and I knew better than to ask. The second time, I saw him sitting at a table in the tea shop, chatting breezily with Sayo. The look on his face was awkward and slightly off-put. I hardly blamed him. It had to feel weird being treated like a total stranger by a former spouse. As for Kaji, I didn't question him, but I saw him sweeping the porch with a disinterested look on his face, throwing occasional, distrusting looks at the man as he did. But he made no move to chase him out._

 _As I left, again, I wasn't sure if this decision was what was best for them, but I decided to leave it alone for now. It was during times like these that I often found myself wondering what the Mushi would think of us if they could comprehend our existence and habits the way we did theirs. I'm sure they'd find out world to be slightly terrifying to say the least._


End file.
